The Gluten-Free Ratio Rally: Pancakes!

Noun: a demonstration, a sequence of strokes between serving and scoring a point (as in tennis or squash).

Verb: to come into orderly arrangement, to renew order, or united effort, as troops scattered or put to flight; to assemble, to unite, to collect one’s vital powers or forces; to regain health or consciousness; to recuperate.

There are so many ways to take this initiative. So many definitions that ring true for people who are newly diagnosed with Celiac Sprue – or Gluten Intolerance. So many different reasons why even those of us who have been diagnosed for a while still manage not to bake any more because of the initial fears of failure, or wasted ingredients (expense!), or downright disappointment with the results. But here is the reality:

We need each other.

Those of us in the gluten-free world really need each other. Together we have created a community where we have pushed each other to develop new recipes, answered questions (even those unfit for food blogs!), supported each other through the isolation that it feels like – and can often still be, and pushed our local markets and economies in to providing gluten-free food options in many, many places. Oh, yes. We need each other to keep it all.

But this rally? This one is for YOU. That little part of you that is fearful of getting in to the kitchen and trying your hand at baking again. It is intended to quell the little voice of doubt in your head that prevents you from just tossing what you have into a bowl and making breakfast for yourself and your loved ones without fear of failure or the sense of disappointment.

I know that feeling very well.

You see, I was diagnosed in 2000. But I truly didn’t start cracking open my family recipes until nearly 4 years later. Up until that point, I stuck to some Bette Hagman or Rebecca Reilly books. Bette was an amazing pioneer and was my only resource upon diagnosis beyond the random (and at that time – hard to find!) internet source. Rebecca Reilly’s cookbook became a beacon of hope for me. She is a trained culinary artist who provides recipes for classic and delicious cakes, pies, tortes, etc. All the things I needed to feel like I could make a birthday cake and actually *enjoy* it.

What I didn’t realize at the time was that these women were also giving me the courage to keep baking. To keep trying new recipes. My Love encouraged me to make my old favorites, but I always denied their possibilities. I mean really.. who would have thought that I would be making batches of gluten-free goodies to share with friends and have for ready for my girls? Potstickers? Croissants? Thin crust, non-bready pizza crusts? Soft, pliable wrap bread? Oh yes. All of these and more.

Why? Because it works. And it is so, SO much less difficult that I imagined (or feared) that it would all be. In fact, apart from a standard loaf of bread, I have found gluten-free food items and baking to be rather forgivable. In fact, it was within the last two years or so (since the Chicklet’s arrival) that I have begun to cook and bake like my grandma’s recipe box: handful, pinch, dash, etc. And before this? All of those measurements would drive me batty. I mean really: a pinch? Come on now. But – yes – a pinch! It makes sense to me now. Duh! Everything is a ratio or percentage and it works.

Shauna and I bantered briefly a while ago about the ratio of whole grain flours to starch when we bake. We each felt that there are far too many starches in standard gluten-free baked goods and we were working to reduce how much starch we were using. Not surprisingly, we were close in our ratios. Both of us were using about 70% whole grain flours and 30% starch. With these measurements, I can make a batch of basic gluten-free flours for making cookies or muffins, etc. (Not bread however – that’s a different story.)

Recently, she emailed a bunch of us to start a rally. A rally to teach that ratios really are the key to taking off in the kitchen. Michael Ruhlman published his book “Ratio” which explores all of the ratios in cooking and baking. Many of us have read his work (it reads much more like a notebook than a cookbook – which is great for me) and have wondered about the exact ratios we have found to be successful as well. Thus the beginnings of a rally.

The only problem with pancakes? Once you start recipe testing, you can’t stop. Trust me. Even my non-bread-eating Chicklet is now asking for mini-pancakes and “dip-dip” (maple syrup or melted peanut butter with apple “fries”) for her breakfast. She doesn’t want the ones from a restaurant, nope. She wants “Momma’s”. (Oh, I love that.) I’ve made pancakes often before, but honestly… I don’t always measure. There is something about having grown up with pancakes that made the batter intuitive once you know the parts/pieces involved.

I suppose it is much like my sister who with her artist-trained eye can see the different layers of color in paintings and the world. It helps her recreate what she sees or wants to see. For me? It’s about the texture, the mixture, the consistency and the flavor. Those are my artist’s colors. They are the paints I play with. Beyond that? The ingredients are just the components to the paints.

My friends and I were talking at work the other day about gluten-free eating. They were sincerely curious about what kind of baking and cooking I do at home. For teachers, we were experiencing a rare event: lunch off campus with adults only and for more than 25 minutes. It was a slice of heaven. I knew lunch was going to be at a restaurant near the school we were visiting, so I had done my leg work. I had found the restaurant with a gluten-free menu and when the question of “Where do you guys want to eat?” popped up, I was assertive enough to request we ate at “X” because they have a gluten-free menu. Armed with my reasoning (and the fact they could eat vegetarian there too), we were off.

But once the food was served,the questions began. I’m sure it is because my GF option looked just like the rest of their plates. And so the conversation ran through the usual topics: what do you eat? where do you get it? how often do you bake/cook? etc. I mentioned how lucky I felt to be so empowered with my own food choices and experience new things. I told them how hard it is at first and how socially isolating it can be no matter how much experience we have. And we talked about these pancakes.

None of them had ever made pancakes from scratch. I told them how. One woman quickly calculated the cost of her pancake mix and the cost of the ingredients and just about kicked herself. Yeap, I said. And you’re not even gluten-free. Just imagine what those prices are like. (OH! I wish I had a photo of her eyes when she calculated that cost out for you! LOL)

Anyway, here’s the deal.

PANCAKES ARE GOOD.

PANCAKES ARE COMFORTING.

PANCAKES ARE EASY.

Just go in your kitchen and try it.

There are a dozen of us gluten-free bloggers participating with this Gluten Free Ratio Rally about pancakes. We have plans for more rallies in the future. But the fun part is just how we all took a ratio (4:4:2:1) (flour, liquid, egg, fat) and what we did with it.

Since I chose to use nut flour (either hazelnut or almond), I had to bump up my liquid a bit more. There is something about nut flours that always requires a splash or so more of milk than other flours. Regardless, if you have ever made pancakes before, you will know the batter texture when you see it. It should be thick enough to coat spoon generously and yet thin enough that it will ooze off the spoon and back into the rest of the batter. And then… you can make pancakes like these:

Leave undisturbed until bubbles form and pop on the edges and form in the center. The edges will turn slightly golden brown. (See this photo.) Then gingerly slide a spatula underneath and flip the pancakes.

Cook for an additional 1-2 minutes (the second side takes less time). Adjust the temperature (medium-low?) for the next batch as needed.

Keep warm until serving in a covered dish in a preheated/warm oven.

Serve with your favorite “dip-dips”.

To Make the Gluten Free Whole Grain pancakes, omit the dried cherries and the chopped nuts. Serve with chopped fruit, powdered sugar (not pictured as the Chicklet doesn’t like her pancakes with “powder”), your favorite marmalade, melted peanut butter, etc.

Happy pancake making, all!~Kate

You can find the other Gluten Free Blogger Ratio Rally pancake recipes here:

And a special note of thanks to Anile Prakash of GirlFriday.ca for creating our fabulous Gluten Free Ratio Rally logo. It’s a fabulous way to unite the effort and RALLY us all to better health together. Thank you. (And for any of your interested in her work, please check out her site here or send her an email.)

29 comments on “The Gluten-Free Ratio Rally: Pancakes!”

Love this post. I’m always amazed at how I can be simultaneously shocked and also feel a sense of expectedness when people say that they haven’t made X from scratch. People don’t realize that all baking mixes are is flour, leavening, maybe some sugar and salt, mixed up and stuck in a bag. When it’s pointed out, it makes the mixes seem pretty silly.

And it must be said that your pancakes look great! Hazelnut & cherry–yes please.

Beautiful post, and your pancakes look awesome! I’m so excited that you are part of the Rally. Also, thanks for the very interesting point about the nut flours being more hygroscopic – that must explain why I like to add a little extra liquid to my hazelnut pancakes.

I’m sorry I wasn’t more clear for you. Whole grains are those in which the hull, etc have been processed into the flour. They have more fiber and higher protein/etc counts as well. (So much better for you!) For example, white rice has had the hulls removed (as well as been polished, etc) so it is not a whole grain. Brown rice is the whole grain.

You need the starches to improve the body, texture and flavor of the mix. (Just like most “whole wheat bread” recipes do not JUST contain whole wheat flour or they would be incredibly dense biscuits – and obviously, not gluten free.)

Kate, I too learned from Rebecca Reilly– her pie crust recipe was the basis for mine and now Kate McDermott is using a version in her classes. I was thinking today about Rebecca. When she was testing her recipes there was not an internet for sharing with others, it was quite solitary. I agree with you about increasing the healthy flours and decreasing the starches–something we all need to do.

I love how you started with a definition of rally, showing how you really are a teacher through and through! My partner is a teacher too and he totally does that sort of thing, switching into “teacher” mode all the time.

That said, hazelnut and dried cherry sounds like a fantastic combination! I almost added hazelnut meal to my pancakes, but I’m trying to exercise restraint in my recipe development because I have a habit of laying on more and more flavors to everything I make.

Such a beautiful post Kate! I’m so glad to be a part of all of this with you :). Your pancakes look sensational. I love the sound of the hazelnut and dried cherry combination. Yum! Just as your sweet girl said, these pancakes are so much better than a restaurant. Can’t wait to try!

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